JUST THE FACTS.

Crime And Punishment

February 15, 1998

The sensational crime that condemned Karla Faye Tucker to death repulsed many of us to the core, just like many crimes before that brought about the death penalty. Sadly, society seems to be more sympathetic to Tucker than to men convicted of brutal murders solely because she is a woman--and a woman who looks like she might live next door, not some kind of monster. Tucker became a media sensation, perhaps because "She was a woman, white, attractive, articulate and a Christian," said David R. Dow, a University of Houston law professor, in the New York Times. Even in matters of life, death and punishment, men and women are not treated equally.